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I product t v The-objects of the invention are to provide an improved method of preparation of food 7 Y other edible portions of gifthe food provide a product which Reisaued Sept.

UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE,

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n mm Original I0. Lwessaaiad Io'vember so, med um no. man, fled unusual-"m ul d lay 10,1927. Serial 10,198,474. I

This invention relates to an improved method. of pre aring foods and the. product obtained there y, and more particularly relates to 'r paration of fish and to the fish us obtained.

products which will render the same more 7 readily handled without damage, and more 10 permanent in form-when sliced, cooked or otherwiw treated after purchase and in preparation for eati'ng;'to enable scrapsand the food to be made salable and attractive -as .well as convenient 11F to handle, cook and use; to particularly adapt the invention to recovery and use of edible portions of otherwise to vavoid cooking or other expensive operations' during manufacture; to obtain a, homogeneous mass; to utilize inherent properties in carrying out the process and hue avoid inclusion of foreign matter; to

will resist'disinte ation even more positively than 'usual fih fil ets while being cooked; to avoid the necessity of heavily salting the fish'lin preparing the product; to avoid the necessity of tying,

j boxmg and other artificial meansjfor main.-

7 I' tainingthe' shape of the'food product; to 3 secure simplicityand lower cost of construction. and process of manufacture; and to obtain other advantages and results as may be brought outin the following description. As one specific embodiment of theinven- 86 tion as a plied'to fish I preferably employ p leaned, fresh fish. I

the flesh of properly wish to clearly distinguish at this time between fresh fish vand salt, cured or pickled fish; these terms having a very 40 definite meaning in the fish industry. Salt fish are not only so heavily salted thatthey require'to be freshened before use, but they are at least partially dried, both of which characteristics distinguish such fi'sh from fresh, fish which are preserved in their natural state as near as ossible.. In the case ofsalt, -cured? "or ickled fish the preservative effect of salt is argely depended upon to prevent s ilage; whlle any. roduct to be truly f upon the same preservative methods as are or can be applied'tothe proper handling of unprepared or fresh fish. One such method of preservation of fresh fish .nection with the my nvention.

'l the invention may be employed 'carryin through thesteps of' m' processi accomplished in a suflicientlyshort and not salted relies the same to low method is preferaglsyA the one adopted in con- The fish used are preferabl taken as fresh from the water as ossi le, for the usual reasons, and the edibe portions there of utilized in whole or in out the invention. It ma invention enablesuse'o edible scraps. of fish, such as would be ordinaril' wasted in cutting fillets from the bone an art in carrying t ose scraps or to employthe entire edible portion of the fish if so desired- .Also, let it be stated here that the fish are kept as cold as conveniently has to' be carried out in a refrigerate room.

The fish taken from-the water, or from the.

of cleaning and removing the fies and improved time and without any intentional application of heat, so that the fish will be at all times quite coldl Such part of the fish as is to be utilized in connection wit-h my process, for instance the meat or flesh which adheres to thebone in cuttin ofi thefillets, is removed from the unedi le' portions and where necessary or desired are of suitable size and in suitable manner. B fragments, it is to be understoodthat I refer to any disintegration of the fish from quite large .pieces down to actua-l granulation. I have found that very good results are obtained by grinder, this means apparently rupturing the cells of the fish very effectively, and obtainmay be left is bysubjectihg; temperatures; and this '5 p pm to 3 noted that the I preferably reduced to fragments accordi to use'o y possible throughout the process, but 'I do not mean that the passingportionsof fish through a mg very small fragments, but, as indicated 'above, the fragments of anysize desired.

or made d This reduced fish flesh',

which will be referred toas pulp for con- 10o venience, is then placed in suitable molds of any desired size or shape and with or without puddling or slight for a suflicient time tohomogeneous v a I have found thatbest results seem to be ome united as a fissure and is left this I mean applying a motion to the mass in fact, it may even set-ting the fish as suggested similar to that employed in surfacing con crete. This operation seems to work the fragments of fish together and obtain better cohesive effect from the protoplasm or other glue content. However, it may be-noted that the same results are-obtained by a direct pressure of proper intensity which may be used with or without the paddling motion. While slight or no pressure whatever, gives good results, it may be noted that increased pressure does not adversely affect product andmay be used forthe beneficial effect thereof.

' It appearsthat the fish contains a natural luey material, sufficient under proper con itions, to cause one portion of fish to adhere to another, and with the reduction of above by a grinder to obtain a pulp, the adhesion of the various particles thereafter amounts to a solidification of the mass in a firm homogeneous cake. A similar cohesive effect is evident when larger pieces are brought together, and I do not wish to limit myself to any particular degree of'finene'ss in preparing the fragments or particles of fish for cohesion. Sulficient time is allowed after, the pulp has been puddled or otherwise treated in the mold,

for it to setor solidify; for instance twelve hours has been employed with good results, the products then being ready for use. While the pulp is thus setting or solidifying, it is preferable that it be kept cold, and, be frozen before or after intense cold durin the setting eriod apparently not being injurious. ere the product is to be kept for some time after manufacture, it is preferable to actually freeze the same, utilizing intense i coldfor a short period so as to freeze the or otherwise, or stored in product verv quickly and thus largel preserve the taste and other desirable c aracteristics of fresh fish. It may then be shipped in suitable heat insulated containers suitable refrigerators or cold storage rooms.

I wish to call attention to the fact that although theprotoplasm and'perhaps some of the other constituents of fish flesh have certain gluey qualities, they are not actually what is generally termed glue until they have been subjected to heat, and my process introduces-no heat. Therefore, '1 here use the word glue in a general sense to indicate all the adhesiveelements ofthe fish flesh, but more particularly the protoplasm. In this connection itmay be well to emphasize thatthe fish employed isthat known as fresh fish and that every endeavor ismade to keep the same chilled from the start to finish, both to retard decomposition and for beneficial effects on the finished' e mold. By

product which appears to be improved by being manufactured when cold. It may also be here mentioned that a somewhat better adhesion of the component particles of the finished cake seems to be obtained by using a small amount of salt. This, however, does not approach the amount used in curing fish, and may ordinarily added in cooking fresh fish. The effect of the salt is to contract the cell walls and thus express some of the protoplasm from the individual cells and to leave it'free to causeadhesion when the various fragments or particles are brought together in the cake or mold. This salt may be-added to the product either by immersing in pickle the pieces of fish before they are pulverized, by adding dry salt to the ground mixture or by salting heavily the juice or other liquid which I add to the pulverized fish. As one mannerof carrying out the salting the fish, it may be immersed forperhaps one minute in a: sixty percent saturated brine. Such an immersion would have no practical effect if the fish were to be salted or cured in the ordinary sense, as for that purpose the fish must be struck through with salt aprocess which would require mmersion in a saturated solution of brine for from 12 to 48 hours or more.

Heretofore, fish in the fresh state has been cleaned, out into fillets, and frozen, but

the fillets have a tendency to break or crumble in handling, ,particularly while or after being cooked. By the present invention, the cakes'of the prepared product are sufficiently tenacious so as to retain their shape and not disintegrate while being sliced, fried, boiled, broiled or. otherwise prepared for eating, and yet the fish .when thus prepared the original fish would taste.

I Particular attention is directed to the fact. i

that the taste and texture is largely due to the fact that the fish is not dried out, but

all the moisture is retained. In fact, additional moisture may be supplied in some instances or in every case if found desirable, such moisture being the fish 'juices and oils obtained from the same or other fish, as for instance from the heads, or may be in the form of clear water or brine. Likewise, it is within the scope of the invention to mix the fish flesh, roes and other edible portions diverse, so as to produce various desired flavors, textures, food values and so forth, the mixture at all times being fresh raw fish until cooked by the purchaser. The high moisture content is one of the advantages of the product, and clearly distinguishes it from salt or cured fish, in which every effort is usually made to expel or evaporate the be even less than the amount and eaten tastes like and is as tender as thermo're, it is .to be understood that I refer injthe fore oing description and following claims to sh-m a neral sense, including thereby all sear ucts includin clams, oysters, crabs, lo sters, and so fort in addition tofish according to the usual concep tion of that term.

Obviously detail changes and modifications may be madein the method and product of my im roved invention without departing from t e spirit or scope thereof, and I do not wish to be understood" as limiting myself to'the precise operations mentioned or to the exact product described in detail in the foregoing specification except as set forth in the following claims when construed in the light of the prior art.- 7 7 Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A process of pre aring fish consistin in reducing fresh fis to fragments, an solidi ing the mass of fragments having in the so idified; masssubstantially not less moisture than that contained in the fish from which the fragments vwere prepared.

2. A process of repar ingfish consisting in reducing fresh to fragments thereby rupturing cells of the fish flesh and uniting sald fish flesh in a solidified homogeneous mass by'the gluey content of'the opened cells.

3. A process of reparing fishtconsisting of reducing fresh h to fragments thereby rupturing-cells of the fish flesh and uniting said fish flesh'ina solidified homogeneous mass'by the gluey content of the opened cells, and freezin said fish.

' 4. A process 0 reparing fish consisting in reducing fresh fish to fragments thereby rupturing cells of the fish flesh and unit'- ing said fish flesh in a solidified homogeneous mass by the gluey content ofthe opened .cells, forming said mass into. a cake, and

freezing. said cake. V t

.5. A food roductvconsistin'g of ahomogeneous soli ified mass of freshraw fish] having not less moisture than that contained in' the fish from which theifragments were prepared. v e f 6; A food roduct consisting of fleSOlidified mam of agments from difierent kinds of fresh raw fish assembled and held together asa tenacious cake with substantially not. less moisture retained than-that contained in the fish from which the fragments were prepared. v e

7 A process of preparing fish, consisting in reducin fresh fish to fragmentsixadding ing t moisture t ereto and solidi e mass of fragments through the action of the adhesive entsinthe fish and without any substantlal loss of the total moisture content. .8. A process of preparing fish consisting in reducing fresh fish to fragments, addin moisture thereto, solidifying the mass 0% fragments with the added moistureto form acake, and freezing said cake. e 9. A- rocess of preparing fish consisting in reducing fresh fish to fra cuts and rupturing the cells .of the fis flesh, adding moisture thereto, uniting said moistened fish flesh into a solidified mass bonded 'by' thegluey content of the opened cells, and freezing said'solidified mass with the added moisture therein.

10. A food product consisting of-a homogeneous solidified mass of fresh raw fish onded by thev adhesive a nts in the fish and containing substantial y more moisture than that contained in the fish from which the fragments were prepared. 11. A food plroduct consisting of a solidified mass of cab raw fish fragments assembled and held together as a tenacious cake, I

and having a moisture contentgreater than that of the fish from which the fragmentswere prepared. a

12. A process of preparing fish, consisting in reduc ng fresh fish flesh to fragments,

adding a substantial percentage of moisture to said fragments, utilizing the adhesive constituents in said fish fragments to unite them to form a solidified mass, and at some stage in the process adding to said flesh a nonadhesive substance which cooperates with constituents of the fish flesh to increase the adhesion of the fragments to each other.

. 13. A food product consisting of a-solidified mass of fresh raw fish fragments bonded bythe adhesive, substances in the fish and havin asubstantially higher moisture con-' tent 1; an that originally contained in the 'fish' from which the fragments were prepared, said mass also containing a small percentage' of a nonadhesive palatable substance which cooperates with constituents of the fish to increase the adhesion of the frag- 'ments to each other.

14. A food product consisting of a solidifiedmass of fresh raw fish fragments bonded by the adhesive substances inthe fish and having a substantially higher moisture con-- tent than that ori inally contained in the CLARENCE BIRQsEYE;

.fish from which t e fragments ,were pre- 

